TRAP Laws - Hospitalization Requirements

One way states regulate abortions is to impose legal requirements on health care facilities in which abortions are performed. These legal requirements, known as Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider (TRAP) laws, apply specifically to abortion providers and mandate additional requirements not applied to other similarly situated health care practices. TRAP laws may address various aspects of facilities’ physical environment and operations (e.g., staffing, required practices, hospital transfer arrangements). This website contains interactive datasets for three different types of TRAP laws:

There are two ways to navigate the data using the interactive map, (1) by selecting a state from the map or, (2) by selecting criteria that detail the characteristics of the laws.

Option 1 – State by state: Using the map, click on the state of interest. A table will appear with details about that state’s law.

Option 2 – Multiple states: To view the law across multiple states, you may use the questions to filter through various criteria.

Below is an explanation of interactive symbols that appear in the table once you select an option above:

Red gavelsymbol: Clicking this symbol will display the full text of all statutes and regulations related to the topic within the chosen jurisdiction that have been included in the dataset.

Red statute symbol: ​Clicking this symbol will display the specific statutory and/or regulatory citations supporting that selected response. Clicking on the citation text will display the text of the law linked to that response.

Question mark symbol: ​Clicking this symbol will reveal unique features of the statutory and/or regulatory law(s). These “caution notes” are created to alert users of important differences and/or give greater detail to the user about the criteria selected.